To 'Granny' Annette Funicello, with love

As she was back in her heyday, Annette could still be a role model for adolescent girls and young women.

She was one of the last really girl-next-door-type role models. There's so much with the media now and all the reality television, I think girls have this skewed image of what's realistic when it comes to beauty and things like that. She was all about just loving yourself and accepting who you are and being the best you can be.

At 5 feet 3 and a toned 118 pounds, McDuffie plays a role as a model, too, for healthy living.

My dad (country-western songwriter Kenneth Richard McDuffie) worked in the music industry and having passed away of a heart attack, that's something that opened my eyes a lot. My sister and I were both diagnosed with melanoma at 26. Certain things that we're at a predisposition to health wise, we can't control. But there are things that are in our control.

Working in fitness allows me to feel really happy about the job that I have.

She teaches nine sessions at three gyms in Orange County and has a natural presence in front of a group of people, like Annette had.

I don't have a formal dance background or formal training. Growing up in Tennessee, I remember getting clogging lessons from a man in overalls, with, like, missing teeth. So I grew up clogging at bluegrass festivals.

I have a love for music and movement, and I love to dance and I love to exercise. But it is more about knowing that I'm doing something to make a difference and help other people. It means a lot to me.

People in her fitness classes weren't always aware Annette was her grandmother, many too young to know much about Annette's legacy.

Growing up, my generation didn't really watch her on television. It was my mom's generation. So if it had come out, it would have been something like, "Oh my gosh, my mom told me" or "I heard that Annette Funicello apparently was like the Britney Spears of my mom's era." That kind of thing.

It's something that I've always kind of kept to myself. But when she passed, that brought a lot of attention since it was all over the media. When I came back here to teach my classes there was an outpouring of love and support.

And, of course, on Facebook. I'm really active on social media with the work that I do. There was a lot of love and then also surprise, "Oh, my gosh. I had no idea."

Orange County fitness instructor Jericho McDuffie, 30, is the step-granddaughter to actress and singer Annette Funicello. Funicello, who first became famous as a "Mouseketeer" on the original Mickey Mouse Club from 1955-1959, married McDuffie's grandfather, Glen Holt, in 1986. They remained together as multiple sclerosis took its toll on Funicello, who died on April 8, 2013. McDuffie is the face of the popular Les Mills International exercise-to-music classes. LEONARD ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Jericho McDuffie, left, and her twin sister Jill pose with step-grandmother Annette Funicello in this photo from the mid-1990s. McDuffie remembers the woman they called "Annie" as optimistic, loving and kind. COURTESY OF JERICHO MCDUFFIE
Annette Funicello is assisted by husband Glen Holt, right, as she gets set to put her hands in the cement at Walt Disney Studios Theatre, in Burbank in October 1992. Funicello married Holt, her second husband, in 1986, a year before she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He took devoted care of her to the day she died. NICK UT, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Orange County fitness instructor Jericho McDuffie, step-granddaughter to actress and singer Annette Funicello, says her life was deeply influenced by the caring relationship between her grandfather, Glen Holt, and the woman she calls "Granny." Funicello, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis the year after marrying Holt, died at 70 in April. LEONARD ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
This 1955 file photo of Annette Funicello shows her in her mouse ears as a "Mouseketeer" on Walt Disney's TV series "The Mickey Mouse Club." Funicello was the original superstar Mouseketeer, the picture of wholesome adorableness during the show's primary run in the 1950s. She maintained that sunny persona throughout her life, even as multiple sclerosis diminished her physically. ASSOCIATED PRESS
In addition to her years spent as a child star in Walt Disney productions, Annette Funicello will forever be remembered as Frankie Avalon's girlfriend in their beach party movies from the early 1960s. This photo was taken on Malibu Beach during filming of "Beach Party" in 1963. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jericho McDuffie is the step-granddaughter to actress and singer, Annette Funicello, who died on April 8, 2013. McDuffie, 30, has carved out a successful career as a fitness instructor with Les Mills International. LEONARD ORTIZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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